Seeing those doors open...

First of all - I want to thank any and all who are keeping up with this blog. I've been blogging since 2004 and it seems like a good way to keep people posted on things.

Good news!

Today I got a call from African Inland Mission saying everything is approved. Even though the trip has been in the works for a while, it takes a while to get the paperwork done. Praise the Lord!

Yesterday I got my last immunization - yellow fever is quite a hard shot to get your hands on - so I discovered. They ordered 20 shots at the Health Department and almost 10 were gone within 2-3 hours.

Funds are coming along well (well over $3000 raised of the budgeted $5500) there. The Lord has shown me amazing ways that He provides for His people even so far. Please say a prayer that the rest of it would come in fairly quickly as the departure date is May 24. (Not too far away! :) )

This blog is going to be my primary information "hub" throughout this summer. I hope to soon post the itinerary of where our team will be and a map so you'll know where that is!
Lately I've been reminded that we really do worship a big God. Psalm 24 is a good reminder of this:

¹ The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it;

² for he founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the waters.

³ Who may ascend the hill of the LORD ?
Who may stand in his holy place?

⁴ He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to an idol
or swear by what is false. ^a]">[a]

⁵ He will receive blessing from the LORD
and vindication from God his Savior.

⁶ Such is the generation of those who seek him,
who seek your face, O God of Jacob. ^b]">[b]
Selah

⁷ Lift up your heads, O you gates;
be lifted up, you ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.

⁸ Who is this King of glory?
The LORD strong and mighty,
the LORD mighty in battle.

⁹ Lift up your heads, O you gates;
lift them up, you ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.

¹⁰ Who is he, this King of glory?
The LORD Almighty—
he is the King of glory.
Selah

Plans DO change!

It truly is amazing how the Lord works. It is rarely the way we expect things to work. Let me update y'all on my progress.

First of all, I sent out letters for support only to have many of my plans change THREE days after the USPS put a postmark on my letters. The original plan was to spend the whole summer at a hospital in Mbarara, Uganda. I talked with the main office of AIM (African Inland Mission) in New York and they informed me that I wasn't going to be able to go to Uganda because they'd been informed there wasn't a spot for me. This seemed strange to my ears since I had been corresponding with the team leader from Uganda and he had never mentioned any problems.
Soooo.... AIM presented some other options for me. They suggested a program called MEDIQUEST that would take me to Kenya for 3 weeks and a few local islands for 2 weeks. The purpose of this program is to not only allow its participants to work in medical settings, but to expose them to different medical missions models (small clinics, hospitals, institutions, village medicine) so people can have a better vision for doing medical missions themselves. Wow. This is very close to what I originally envisioned for myself when I was originally planning the trip. This is just a much more organized version of what I had in mind.
AFTER finding this out, I found out later that I was still able to go to Uganda, there was just a glitch in communication and they were not meaning to tell me that I couldn't come.
THEREFORE, I finishing the MEDIQUEST trip around July 11, I plan to fly to Uganda and join the team there for the last few weeks for the summer. So far, this extra part of the tripin Uganda is looking to only add a ~$320 flight, $50 for a Ugandan visa, and the cost of food for the last month of the trip. I feel this is worth doing since I've already gotten to the continent of Africa (which is the most expensive part of the trip), I'd like to make the most of the experience.
I feel like MEDIQUEST allows me to get mass exposure to different "medical stuff" while the stint in Uganda is going to allow exposure of what a part of Africa is really like. I know I won't really get to know the culture if I'm just jumping around to different clinics for 5 weeks and then pack up to go home.

SO, the moral of the story - God has such a bigger plan for us than we can even plan for ourselves. He can take even a miscommunication that seems to "mess up" our plans and turn it into something even better.

-Roberdeau